But, how would I change The Shadow Chronicles? Here are a few ideas:
[sticking with the story of TSC…]
* Change the beginning. Personally, I would not have wasted screen time to retell the last episode of New Generation, Symphony of Light. The audience didn’t need it. Marcus’ narration gives the newcomer enough information and honestly, if anyone wants to know how the New Generation ended they could go out and pick up the DVD or even Netflix it. Unfortunately, I do not believe TSC was solely a product to introduce Robotech to new viewers. TSC was a geek film that only existing Robotech fans raced out and bought. Not to say TSC didn’t create a buzz and possibly bring in a few new fans into the mix. Yet, why not wet those viewers appetite and force them to check out the original series—which they’re going to do anyways. To which, I really don’t know why Tommy Yune wanted this movie to be a stand alone film. Honestly, the movie can’t be a stand alone movie as it relies too heavily on source material of a prior show—viewers will need to know of the original to truly enjoy it.
* Introduce Scott Bernard much later. Actually the perfect spot would be when he rescues the Icarus from the Haydonite attack. Thus, remove any reference to him prior. The whole scene where Gen. Reinhardt contacts Scott is cheesy and stupid. What was the point? If we had gotten the intro I wanted, Scott’s return would have been more glorious, important to plot movement and simply put, would have given any Robotech fan the tinglies, “Yeah! Scott’s back!”
* Keep continuity. Focus every effort to respect the events of the Sentinels and other source material. I felt like George Lucas was involved and was changing his mind again and I didn’t like it. I’m sorry but Robotech fans have based their knowledge on the back story of prior incarnations of Robotech, especially the Sentinels. Janice was created on Tirol not Earth?
* Give the characters some substance and memory. No one seems to remember other characters, nor do names ring any bells. I would have bought Marcus’s intimidation toward Maia if he had said, “she’s Max and Mirya’s daughter. Her sister was like the hero of the 2nd Robotech War.” Isn’t the Sterling name as famous as the Hunter one? When she introduces herself, Alex and Marcus would have said “duh!”
* Nix Louie Nichols. Is he a brilliant scientist who gave us the Nichols Fold Drive or is he some stupid Star Trek science officer? If you want him there, give him some importance.
* Give us realistic looking boobs, geez! Is Robotech sci-fi opera or some softy porn hentai?
* Have it be anime from Japan. Sorry, but many of the character designs seem to be a bit Manhwa. Thus, some of the visual style distracts from the original series.
* Give Mark Hamill’s character more screen time. Here’s a great character yet severely ignored. He’s on screen for 2 minutes! Was I suppose to feel bad when he spit up blood and died? Also, Mr. Hamill gets top billing yet for what, “all units engage”, “ “follow my lead” and “oh, gawd, ugg. spit. burp!!”
* Redesign the Haydonite Masters. They look too much like Invid Enforcers.
[Starting from Scratch]
* Set the story farther out in the timeline. I would have preferred the story picking up much later in history. Perhaps have the crew of the Ark Angel searching for the SDF-3 for months or even years. Give us a new set of characters. Focus on these new characters over rehashing the lives of older ones. Create the sequel more like the original show—create a new generation of heroes. It could have been connected to prior generations through character references. Keep Maia Sterling as a thread back to both 1st and 2nd generation. Scott is in command of the rescue mission for the SDF-3. The Haydenite mystery and deception should be discovered as they get closer to finding the SDF-3—have this concept be focused around the SDF-3 and finding the last protoculture matrix.
The one thing that I liked about the original series was the leaps it made in time and place. Southern Cross was great as we knew it was a descendent of Macross and the RDF. With Dana, the daughter of Max and Miriya, we had a bold reference to its predecessor. The viewer was curious to find out what happened in between the destruction of the SDF-1 and the departure of the Robotech Expeditionary Force. And again, this was true when we made the leap to the New Generation after Zor accidentally released the Flowers of Life. New Generation was cool because we knew Rick Hunter would return yet we never got to see it. There was sort of a mysticism about it.
I was listening to Darkwater’s farewell podcast via Space Station Liberty and he agreed that the best way to do a sequel would have been to take Robotech ahead with a new New Generation. And I will totally agree with this concept. In all regards, this is the fomula for Robotech. It works best as a multi-generational story. The only success would be to leap to a new generation of characters. And only keep the references to prior ones through descendents or onscreen remembrances.
As for Shadow Chronicles 2 and the future of Robotech, I truly worry whether it could hold the audience. Will a series of OVAs work? Or does the fan require another TV show? There are simply too many questions and too many things that we have to teach ourselves to forget.
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